


the story that closes the eyes

by pepperedfox



Category: Kagerou Project
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-14
Updated: 2013-10-14
Packaged: 2017-12-29 09:36:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1003827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pepperedfox/pseuds/pepperedfox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a story born from sadness. Those who remain in the Daze watch as the long summer ends. Set after Summertime Record.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the story that closes the eyes

The Daze was vast. There were times when Azami counted her steps from from one shimmering point to another, when boredom seized her mind. A thousand two, a thousand three, a thousand four— but again and again she found herself off her intended path and lost, or discovered herself standing in the same place she began at. One could walk for days, weeks, years even, as time held little meaning in a place like this, before encountering another inhabitant. Even as the creator of this neverending world (and how fitting it was) she could find no beginning and no end.

It was a lonely, endless desert of heat.

But the children found the end. They seized a rip and tore it open, and for their efforts were rewarded the door that the medusa could not find. In a way, she was sad to see them go. The little brats had begun to grow on her, despite their intrusions. And the ruckus they caused, for a while, drowned out the silence.

The door had long since closed. Though she could easily unlock it, she stood at its entrance with her arms folded.

"Are you missing them already?"

Shion, tall, long and lovely as her father had been, appeared with a gentle smile. Azami inclined her head.

"Your daughter is an odd girl," she said, "letting herself be swayed by her friends into giving up a world like that."

"She’s grown up," Shion answered. "It’s up to her to decide her own happiness, now."

That eternal world was the world that Azami fled to but never found, the world that her clumsy granddaughter grasped while it slipped through Azami’s fingers like fine sand. It was irritating to think about how they were thrown out, like chipped china with no further use.

"Endless seasons spent with those friends of hers or a handful of summers… what a strange idea of happiness."

Past the door, they could see the world beyond theirs unfolding, the world that Mary had chosen. The summer heat was fading, giving way to the crisp brown of autumn. They regarded it in a moment of silence.

"I worry," Shion admitted softly, pressing a hand to her chest. "I wonder if it was the right decision as her mother, but—"

"Our yesterday has no place in her tomorrow," Azami said. "Mary’s chosen to grow old. She’ll die, but she’ll have a happy life, with or without us. That would be the best ending for any human, I suppose."

A short life of various happinesses, sown across the heart like fresh seeds— that life the soldier once promised her centuries ago and the one she tried to pluck and preserved once it bloomed and began to wither—

If that was Mary’s wish, she would respect it.

Shion touched her shoulder. “I hope she loves her tomorrow, then.”

Azami’s lips curled into a smile, but she did not answer.

Mother and daughter stood together before the door. Somewhere, beyond this ruby red sky, was a brilliant blue that neither would be allowed to see. They stood in silent understanding as time crawled on towards the forever distant tomorrow, and in that eternal moment the endless, empty world felt just a little smaller.


End file.
